


the glimmer on the tree

by freezerjerky



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Asexual Arthur, Asexual Character, Christmas, Multi, Nonbinary Character, Polyamory, nonbinary Merlin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 20:55:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5513006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/freezerjerky/pseuds/freezerjerky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin brings home a Christmas tree about two weeks before Christmas.</p>
<p>Merlin's first Christmas living with Gwen and Arthur.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the glimmer on the tree

**Author's Note:**

> Written as part of the BBC Merlin Secret Santa 2015, which I also organized. Check it out at: http://bbcmerlinsecretsanta.tumblr.com
> 
> I had the pleasure of creating for agenderemrys over on Tumblr. The prompt was: "Modern magic au, Merlin/Gwen/Arthur, any rating. Nonbinary!merlin; Ace!Arthur; v physically affectionate!gwen. Fluff, so much fluff, and tinsel. Just... fluffy, glittery, Christmas shenanigans, please?"
> 
> I went with my personal nonbinary!Merlin headcanon of he/him/his pronouns and feeling both all genders and none at once because of his connection to the earth, which I've barely scratched the surface of. I hope you like it! I really enjoyed writing this.

Merlin brings home a Christmas tree about two weeks before Christmas. Gwen had insisted, in the weeks leading up to then, that the closer to Christmas you waited for the tree the lovelier it would be, but Merlin didn't have the patience for that. Besides, what would a florist know about a full size evergreen tree to begin with? Really that's beside the point, because if the tree starts to droop, he could always give it a magic boost and bring it back to its prime. So two weeks before Christmas is just the right amount of time.  
  
It's Merlin's first real tree. Growing up, Hunith had an imitation douglas fir that she lovingly decorated with handmade and sentimental baubles. It wasn't the most decadent tree by any means, but it meant the world to him. Soon after he first started working for Pendragon Industries two years prior, he was invited to Arthur's for a Christmas party. Arthur's tree was rather dull, with standard bulbs and white lights. Merlin had met Gwen that night, when she shook his hand enthusiastically and introduced herself as Arthur's girlfriend. They cut out early from the party to grab some fish and chips (just chips in Merlin's case, as he'd begun experimenting with vegetarianism) and to buy whatever ornaments they could find.  
  
Arthur woke the next morning to find his employee/friend and girlfriend cuddled up on his couch and his Christmas tree decorated in some gaudy reject ornaments; brightly coloured yarn things and children's characters that not even children cared for any more. When Merlin was nudged awake, he froze with fear for a few moments, worried that Arthur would think they were up to something during the night, the way they were tangled with each other. Instead, Arthur asked Merlin how he liked his coffee, resulting in the only time Arthur ever made Merlin coffee.  
  
By the next Christmas, Merlin was very close to both Arthur and Gwen in very different ways. Between the three of them, both separately and together, there existed a closeness and they shared things freely. Only a few days into his friendship with Gwen, Merlin had explained about being nonbinary and that he didn't feel connected to any gender in particular. Her only question was that it was alright to use the pronouns she had been using for him. While Arthur wasn't as open at first, he shared freely once he trusted Merlin. Arthur had fumbled through the speech explaining that he was sensual but not sexual, that he loved Gwen deeply, that he loved everyone he loved deeply, and Merlin didn't change a single thing about the way he thought of his friend.  
  
Feelings were another thing altogether, of course. He couldn't help the way he felt for either of his friends. Merlin had known about polyamory since he was very young, and he'd known it had applied to him since he was not much older, but he also knew that Arthur had a lot of pressure to appear as normal as possible with his beautiful girlfriend and his elegant flat. But life has a way of setting things right, and maybe it was some Christmas magic that had ended in Merlin and Arthur standing under the mistletoe, or in Arthur asking if it was alright to kiss Merlin and Merlin softly, so softly but so surely giving an affirmative answer. It was certainly magic that Gwen saw and laughed, and worked her way under the mistletoe as well and asked the same question. Or that the rest of the night it seemed to be asked again and again until they were all breathless with kissing and laughter.

It wasn't as though everything fell in place completely through magic after that. Merlin, of all people, knows that magic takes time and dedication and work. There was about a dozen talks and dates in configurations of two and three people before things really got off the ground. Then came the issue of how to introduce each other, or how to best fit all three of them on the same bed with fidgety Arthur tucked between Gwen and Merlin. Sex was another matter altogether. Arthur had explained very early on, as though worried that Merlin would change his mind, that being in love with him and Gwen didn't change anything about being asexual. Merlin had never expected it to and was very happy with whatever Arthur was willing to do. What Arthur was willing to do depended on his mood or how stressed he was or any factor that determined anything in Arthur Pendragon's life. Sometimes, he'd join his partners, other times, he'd let them sneak off on their own and join for the later cuddling, other times they'd all stop. The same rules applied when it was either or, everything in their relationship was an ongoing conversation. The important thing, because sex is rarely the most important thing, is that they were happy, and in love, and they respected each other and their respective boundaries.  
  
That didn't mean it surprised Merlin when Arthur and Gwen asked him to move in that September. He'd walked on egg shells the first few months in the flat, but by December he had made his claim and his own unique Merlin charm was added to the place. Which is exactly what leads to Merlin bringing home a tree two weeks before Christmas.

 

The tree is very tall, but not too tall for Merlin to reach on tiptoe, or with a simple incantation. Gwen comes home to see the tree first, as Merlin's bent over adjusting the tree skirt he's bought.  
  
“Well that's a sight for sore eyes,” she says in way of a greeting. “I thought we agreed you'd wait until four days before Christmas.”  
  
Merlin blushes and turns around, pulling his girlfriend into an embrace, which she gladly returns. When he pulls away, he's grinning from ear to ear.  
  
“I passed a lot on my way home and it was the loveliest tree I've ever seen, so I knew we had to have it,” he explains.  
  
Early in their relationship, Merlin knew it was best to not work for his new boyfriend, so he'd started working with a non-profit that helped young magic users from low incomes hone their magic skills to help others. It's exactly what he'd always dreamed of doing and he has no regrets about the career change.  
  
“It is a very beautiful tree, Merlin,” Gwen admits, stepping forward to admire the shape and scent of the tree. “But I think it needs a few more things to look even more beautiful.”  
“Well, shall we go shopping and find the angel that looks the most like you to put on top, then?”  
  
Gwen pats his bum playfully and saunters off to the hall closet, digging through for the box of ornaments. In the past two years, the ornament collection has grown. There's Arthur's boring glass balls, and the tacky ornaments from the night Merlin and Gwen met, and some new things Gwen had bought last year to make sure the tree was pretty, and some tinsel Merlin had bought when he realized, halfway to their flat on that fateful night, that he'd left their presents at home and needed to find something quickly to give them for Christmas.  
  
Arthur walks through the door less than half an hour later, shrugging out of his coat and hanging it up before he even sees what's going on in his very living room. Merlin's in a frumpy green cardigan, holding up two ornaments as Gwen walks around him, wrapping him in tinsel.  
  
“We have probably fifty feet of tinsel, Merlin,” she says, breathless with laughter.  
  
“I was trying to impress you with Christmas presents last year!” he defends. “It clearly works, as I remember you kissing me that very night.”  
  
“That was because of the mistletoe, I'm completely innocent.”  
  
Arthur smiles fondly as he steps further in, lifting his phone to snap a photo of the moment.  
  
“Do I need to tell Merlin that we'd discussed the potential of kissing him that very morning?” he speaks once his phone is safely away.  
  
“I'll claim I know nothing about it.”  
  
In a moment Gwen's got her arms around Arthur's neck and he's lifting her off her feet as he kisses her in greeting. And only a few moments after that, just the right amount of time for a proper kiss hello, he's moving in to kiss the newly decorated Merlin with just as much enthusiasm.  
  
“I'll go change,” he murmurs, “and then I'll help you two decorate the actual tree.”  
  
Merlin lights up then and kisses Arthur again for good measure. Domesticity doesn't always come easily to Arthur, and Merlin's fully aware that he was raised to be a bit spoiled and a bit lazy when it came to chores, so seeing this softer and homey side of Arthur made him weak at the knees sometimes.  
  
“Boys, we won't get anything done with you two all over each other like that,” Gwen teases, holding up one of the offensively ugly yarn ornaments.  
  
That's Arthur's cue to pull away and go find something more comfortable to wear and Merlin's cue to work on an incantation to string the lights. (Because dammit, stringing lights yourself is hard.) Gwen focuses on hanging ornaments lower, moving down onto her knees, and Merlin focuses on the very top, as he's the tallest of the three. Arthur comes back to the living room to the sound of the two of them singing Christmas carols and hanging ornaments with no particular design or plan in mind.  
  
“I don't know, I think it needs something in the middle,” Arthur jokes.  
  
That earns him two poorly attempted glares, of course, which he seeks to pacify by starting to hang some ornaments himself. Merlin gives him a fond smile and leans in to kiss his cheek. The cheek kiss turns into a mouth kiss, and the mouth kiss turns into someone tapping Merlin's bum and clearing her throat.  
  
“Boys, we're not going to get this done if you keep kissing,” Gwen chides.  
  
“I don't know, Guinevere,” Arthur retorts. “You're the one with her hands all over Merlin's bum.”  
  
“Don't tell him I'm planning on seducing him, Arthur, it'll ruin the whole surprise when the time comes.”  
  
“I've got news for you,” Merlin cuts in. “I'm seduced. I've been seduced. If there wasn't a tree that needed decorating, I'd drop my trousers right here.”  
  
Gwen laughs at that, a beautiful airy laugh that brings the colour to Merlin's cheeks and all the way to the tips of his ears. He lives for sounds like her laughter, or Arthur's deeper, heartier chuckle. Not for the first time, he feels just how blessed he is to be privileged to both those sounds on a regular basis. He's blessed by the feel of Arthur's hand on the small of his back when the other mean leans over him to hang a particular ornament, or the way Gwen is the worst culprit of getting distracted by kissing once she's done with the bottom of the tree. Somehow, though, through the kisses and the spinning it takes to get the tinsel off of Merlin and onto the tree, they end up with a lovely, fully decorated evergreen.  
  
They pile onto the couch after they're done, Arthur and Merlin sitting close and Gwen wedging between them in such a way that she's on both of their laps. They're warm and happy and Merlin doesn't like to oversimplify feelings or what he'd like to do with his life, but this feels exactly right. The it feels as though he's glowing, like the way he feels when he casts a spell has settled into his stomach and made him content and golden and happy. Gwen's nuzzling against his neck and Arthur's got his arm around his shoulder and he can feel that they must be just as happy.  
  
“I don't know,” Arthur cuts in, breaking the moment of peace. “It feels like it's missing something.”  
  
“Glitter,” Gwen answers.  
  
“You didn't even look at the tree!”  
  
“It needs glitter,” she insists.  
  
“The tinsel is basically glitter, it catches the light and shines like it,” Arthur explains. If he wasn't tangled up in two people, he'd cross his arms and tap his foot in indignation.  
  
“I don't know, Arthur, it could use some more sparkle,” Merlin adds in.  
  
“If you want the bloody glitter, than one of you is going to have to get up to go to the store to fetch some.”  
  
“Nope,” Merlin says, popping the p rather proudly. “I can just make some glitter. Close your eyes.”  
  
He waits until they've both got their eyes screwed shut before saying a few words, a few brief words that he hopes don't backfire, before he closes his own eyes. He opens them to a living room covered in glitter.  
  
“That's not what I meant, Merlin!” Gwen protests, attempting to shake out the amount that had settled into her hair. “I don't even think magic can do this away.  
  
“You asked for the glitter, and you were sitting on my lap, so I wasn't going to move to get it...”  
  
“I'll clean it up, I'll clean it up,” Merlin insists, leaning in apologetically for a kiss first from Gwen, then from Arthur.  
  
“You bet your bum you do,” Arthur growls, but it comes out puppyish and overfond.  
  
“Yeah, your very cute bum.”  
  
Even with a spell, Merlin suspects he'll be finding glitter for years to come. He really doesn't mind, because it means he has years, and glittery Christmas trees, to look forward to.


End file.
